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Retention First

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Retention First

By: John Lamerton
Narrated by: John Lamerton
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About this listen

If you can increase retention by as little as five percent, your profits could grow by as much as 95 percent.

Most small businesses chase strangers. Ads, funnels, lead magnets, networking breakfasts–they’re all just pouring more water into a leaky bucket. Put retention last, and you’ll feel knackered, always chasing the next deal, feeling like your business is running you, not the other way round.

This book helps you stop treating retention as an afterthought, and start putting it first in your business by looking after–and obsessing over–the customers you’ve already got before chasing new ones who have yet to spend a penny with you.

©2026 John Lamerton (P)2026 W. F. Howes Ltd Customer Service Marketing & Sales Business
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I was lucky to be a beta reader for the early version of this book and I'm happy now the final version has launched. John has hit the nail on the head here. There is such a power to this idea that even one of the early examples in the book of a provider (it was a phone or an energy provider) screwing over him as an existing customer and not giving a new customer deal is something that I've experienced and enrages me every time. There's something really powerful to this book and even though it's filled with simple ideas, they're simple ideas that are ignored and overlooked constantly.

Looking forward to see how I can implement this in my own business.

Simple idea constantly overlooked

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I have enjoyed listening to his other titles and this one doesn't disappoint, it's a no-nonsense book, read by the author, with actionable steps that you can immediately put into action if you are a small business owner. I particularly like the chapter summaries as these make it easy to go back to.

Another brilliant book from John Lamerton

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John does a great job of showing how most businesses prioritise new customers (who have never spent any money with you) over existing, loyal customers - and how easy it is to grow a small business by obsessing over these neglected clients.

It's a nice easy read, full of easy to implement, down to earth advice on customer service, client retention, and small business growth. Never lose a customer again!

Time to start putting retention first!

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In the style of John's other books, this is a super useful book for anyone with a business built around a community, such as a membership. His advice is clear to understand and approached with John's usual sense of wit. I'm already putting some of the ideas into practise and will be reviewing my systems to employ more ideas in the coming year. Thanks John!

Accessible, entertaining and useful

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Really enjoyed making my way through this book, every chapter is full of relatable examples/analogies and then useful action steps at the end if each chapter. The narrator is the author, John, and I really like the Plymouth lilt and authenticity as he retells his own stories, rather than feeling like he's rereading. Retention focused, but offering a great overarching business view - focus on giving great value to your customers, and then a whole host of core key metrics increases. Loved it, thanks John

Fix that leaky bucket

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